G'day you bloody pommy's.
You know people say that nobody even drinks Fosters in Australia....well it is true. However, it is more interesting than that. Apparently they do drink it, but only out in the outback in Crocodile Dundee style bars. Which in my book makes it a little bit cooler. So go buy yourself a Fosters.
Alcoholic beverages aside, back to the trip.
Australia Zoo, the home of the crocodile hunter Steve Irwin. They sure haven't let that one go despite his Stingray accident. First you cruise along Steve Irwin Road, before seeing huge billboards of him everywhere. Not that I'm complaining, I loved Steve Irwin. In the zoo each enclosure has a bit of information written by Steve Irwin "look at those Betty Davies eyes" about his favourite croc. The highlight is the Crocoseum which is a 5000 seater stadium where they put on a crocodile show. The Irwins even put it on, with his wife and two kids taking part. His daughter, Bindi, is one irritating little girl. The show was excellent though.
Now we had kind of decided that the towns in Australia are pretty boring, desolute, soul-sapping places, so we stuck to the 'bush walks'. These are great, there are some fantastic walks, and even more fantastic for their price - free. A welsh man in the tourist information office told us to go climb a few of the glass house mountains, so we headed there.
What the Welshman failed to mention was that the mountain he had recommended wasn't so much of a walking-trail, but a climbing trail. The trail got pretty much vertical very quickly. The drops weren't huge by any stretch of the imagination but they were big enough that if you fell it would hurt a lot. Plus Alex and I aren't exactly experienced climbers, and you can take the word experienced out of that sentance if you like and it still makes sense. We got a bit of the way up before Alex said he didn't want to go any higher, and I didn't disagree with him. It was funny climbing back down as I was infront and when I turned around to look at Alex his legs were shaking. I didn't even know that that happened to people apart from in the Beano, knees knocking together. It was cracking me up. Alex had a big grin on his face but couldn't stop his legs shaking. We climbed an easier mountain and had some great views.
Alex has gotten into taking time-lapses again so we are finding lots of lookout points to film the sun slowly setting behind the mountains and various other scenes that look beautiful on camera. I don't mind it at all, setting up the camping chair with a beer in hand and watching the sun set whilst Alex plays with his camera.
Next, onto a city, a real city! We were a bit excited about this, seeing as this was our first proper city since being in Australia. And we were not dissapointed, its an excellent place. The city is very modern and clean and cool looking. The scene there is very cool, with live bands on all the time and lots of "hipsters" mooching about. Queen Street is a beautiful highstreet. If you can't tell, I have a lot of good things to say about Brisbane. It has a great bus system, most of which is underground and exclusively for buses, so it is a bit like a subway.
We parked up out of town and splashed out on a caravan park which had a pool and tennis courts. After much fun there, and setting a new keepy-ups record, we went out for a night out in the city. Its an ace night out, although I'm not sure my bank balance will agree with that.
We did a walk in the nearby national park, and another time-lapse of the sun going down over the city.
Surfers Paradise was next, and no surfing took place. The weather has taken a turn for the worse slightly, and it was unbelievably windy when we got there, like to the extent that you have to walk like an old man who has just followed through, otherwise the wind pushes you over. The best thing about Surfers Paradise is that we got to meet up with Gary and Briege again who we haven't seen since India. It was great to see them and they haven't changed a bit. It felt like we had seen them yesterday, not 6 months ago.
We went on a pub crawl with Gary and Briege there, which was hilarious, but again, my bank balance may not agree. I will have to stop this enjoying myself lark, its not advised in Australia. Gary and Briege said they would come with us to Nimbin even though they are travelling North whilst we are heading South.
Nimbin is a bizarre place. It is a hangover from the hippy movements from the 60's, and is a small town in the hills where weed is legal, despite it actually being illegal. It is weird walking down the highstreet openly being offered weed by 70 year old men in leather vests with braids in their hair. It is a bit intimidating to be honest, I wasn't a fan of the atmosphere there. The view from our campsite looked like a Cravendale advert though, so that was nice. The office also had Risk, so we played some great games of that.
And thats where we had to say goodbye to Gary and Briege after two days. Very sad, I liked having them around. They said they would send us the code so we can watch their wedding in Vegas online. That sounds fun. Shame we won't be there anymore now we have to work in Australia.
For some reason Byron Bay sticks in my head as one of the most famous places in Australia, but I don't know why. Gary and Briege hadn't been a big fan, saying it was full of kids, but we liked it. I guess the kids had left now that easter holidays is drawing to a close, and it just seemed a cool place, with great shops and lots of surfers about. The beach would have been great but the weather is still a bit iffy, so we avoided that.
The last couple of days we have been sat in a cheap caravan park ($20 for powered site = bargin) loving having a fully charged fridge and lights that work in the van. The weather seems to be clearing up a bit so we will move on tomorrow.
I have been trying to sort myself out a job for June. I have an interview a week on Friday in Sydney so wish me luck. I have to go buy a suit for it so I best get the job otherwise I have wasted my travellers budget on a suit I don't need.
Thats all for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment